diff --git a/data/testOutput/.gitignore b/data/testOutput/.gitignore
index 3b3c2abaf..7d2cf1e87 100644
--- a/data/testOutput/.gitignore
+++ b/data/testOutput/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 *.csv
 *.txt
 *.xml
+*.musicxml
diff --git a/src/private/mx/examples/Write.cpp b/src/private/mx/examples/Write.cpp
index bd58277a7..f9d83063c 100644
--- a/src/private/mx/examples/Write.cpp
+++ b/src/private/mx/examples/Write.cpp
@@ -121,10 +121,10 @@ int main(int argc, const char *argv[])
 #endif
 
     // write to a file
-    mgr.writeToFile(documentID, "./example.musicxml");
+    mgr.writeToFile(documentID, "./data/testOutput/example.musicxml");
 
     // we need to explicitly delete the object held by the manager
     mgr.destroyDocument(documentID);
 
     return 0;
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/src/private/mxtest/api/DocumentManagerTest.cpp b/src/private/mxtest/api/DocumentManagerTest.cpp
index abb5bac45..af81a2ffd 100644
--- a/src/private/mxtest/api/DocumentManagerTest.cpp
+++ b/src/private/mxtest/api/DocumentManagerTest.cpp
@@ -187,7 +187,9 @@ TEST( sillyTest, DocumentManager )
     score.encoding.encodingDate.day = 30;
     score.copyright = "© 2016 by Matthew James Briggs";
     auto documentId = DocumentManager::getInstance().createFromScore( score );
-    DocumentManager::getInstance().writeToFile( documentId, "./sillytest.xml" );
+    const std::string outputPath = std::string{mxtest::getResourcesDirectoryPath()} + "testOutput" +
+                                   FILE_PATH_SEPARATOR + "sillytest.xml";
+    DocumentManager::getInstance().writeToFile( documentId, outputPath );
     DocumentManager::getInstance().destroyDocument( documentId );
 }
 T_END
diff --git a/src/private/mxtest/api/RoundTrip.h b/src/private/mxtest/api/RoundTrip.h
index b7458c636..8170ab416 100644
--- a/src/private/mxtest/api/RoundTrip.h
+++ b/src/private/mxtest/api/RoundTrip.h
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 #include "mx/api/DocumentManager.h"
 #include "mxtest/control/CompileControl.h"
 #include "mxtest/file/MxFileRepository.h"
+#include "mxtest/file/Path.h"
 #include <sstream>
 
 namespace mxtest
@@ -21,7 +22,9 @@ inline void roundTrip()
     auto scoreData = docMgr.getData(docId);
     docMgr.destroyDocument(docId);
     docId = docMgr.createFromScore(scoreData);
-    docMgr.writeToFile(docId, "./output.xml");
+    const std::string outputPath =
+        std::string{mxtest::getResourcesDirectoryPath()} + "testOutput" + FILE_PATH_SEPARATOR + "output.xml";
+    docMgr.writeToFile(docId, outputPath);
     docMgr.destroyDocument(docId);
 }